West Germany Detains War Criminal Suspect

AP

Published: October 20, 1988

MUNSTER, West Germany, Oct. 19—
A former pro-Nazi Latvian police commander who had faced deportation from the United States on charges of World War II atrocities was detained by the West German authorities today.

The man, Boleslav Maikovskis, 83 years old, was picked up at his home in Munster because the authorities believed that he might try to flee West Germany, said Klaus Schacht, a prosecutor in Dortmund's war crimes investigation office.

Mr. Maikovskis had applied for political asylum in West Germany after fleeing the United States last year. He had lived in Mineola, L.I., since 1951. Mr. Maikovskis is accused of crimes in World War II including burning down a village and shooting women and chidren. In 1965 the Soviet Union sentenced him to death in absentia.

Mr. Schacht said his office would welcome assistance from Moscow, but declined to say whether Mr. Maikovskis would be deported to the Soviet Union.